This thesis focuses on education at Swedish community music and arts schools and at
primary schools. The aim of the study is to contribute to knowledge formation within the
field of music education by examining how children make music in an institutional context
and how the development of new approaches in teaching and learning affect how children
practise music. This is studied by observing what happens when children aged 9 to 12,
compose music when they have access to digital tools in a community music and arts school
and in a primary school – with specific focus on how composing tasks take shape under
varying contextual and interpersonal conditions. 13 children from a community music and
arts school and 21 children from a primary school participated in the study. In order to
gather material for this study a survey was undertaken to examine the children’s experiences
of music, instruments and digital tools. In order to observe and examine composing
activities and the music the children had composed, these sessions were recorded on video.
The theoretical framework for the study is based on a sociocultural perspective. The results
indicate contextual-related differences between the activities in the community music and
arts school and the primary school. The differences are observed in the activities and the
music the children compose. By addressing interpersonal-related differences the reason why
some groups of children undertake the task of composing and some groups of children do
not undertake this task can be examined further.... more